HOUSTON — On an unseasonably warm January morning, Lance Berkman steps outside of a warehouse being converted to a personal training facility, picks up a sledge hammer and pummels an earthmover-sized tire.

He bounces the hammer off the tire over and over as if it was the lever that operates the puck at a carnival test of strength.

“You know,” Berkman said between tire thumps, “if you could crank up a little ‘The Legend of John Henry’s Hammer’ by Johnny Cash, it would be a nice accompaniment.”

This typical Berkman scene, full of sharp wit, raises one question: Really, is all this necessary?

After all, Berkman is 36, sporting a salt-and-pepper beard that is filling in nicely. There is the slightest hint of paunch around his belly, though, to be fair, he wouldn’t have gained the nickname “Fat Elvis” long ago if there wasn’t.

As recently as a couple of months ago, he was beginning a quiet retirement from professional baseball and transitioning to college coaching. And who needs to keep pounding on knees that have endured six surgeries, including two in the last eight months?

So, yeah, Lance, is all this really necessary?

“That’s a good question,” Berkman said when asked why he chose to forego the cushiness of retirement and play a 15th season in the majors, this one as the Rangers’ primary DH. After a whirlwind late-December courtship, he signed a one-year contract on Jan. 10 that guarantees him $11 million for 2013 and includes an option for 2014.

“The dollars may have been a lure, but it is the competition that is rewarding,” Berkman said during a break in his 21/2-hour workout. “Once you step on the field, you aren’t competing for compensation, you are competing for pride. I love the competition. To me, it has always been about the competition.”

Change in plans

Life really was set up for Berkman to quietly walk away from pro baseball last fall after two seasons with St. Louis.

After signing with St. Louis despite some overtures, but no contract offer from the Rangers, he produced the fifth 30-homer, .300-batting average season of his career in 2011.

The Cardinals also came back from oblivion and eventually — in case you forgot — beat the Rangers in a seven-game World Series for the ages. Berkman hit .423 in the Series, including a homer and the game-tying, two-out RBI single in the bottom of the 10th inning of Game 6. It was his first world championship and put a nice bow on a nice career.

Last season, however, was filled with nothing but pain. He had torn cartilage in his right knee and tried to play through it, but ended up with a strained calf two weeks into the season. His return, three weeks later, lasted only a week before the first surgery.

Two months later, his return lasted only two weeks before swelling in the knee knocked him out another month. His return from that lasted only five at-bats before he required another surgery. He is still rehabbing from that surgery and probably won’t be 100 percent until early in spring training.

It gave him plenty of time to consider the future. Berkman, who has long expressed an interest in college coaching, heard from Wayne Graham — his college coach at Rice — that he could join the staff as a volunteer assistant for the upcoming season.

“The college game is less jaded,” Berkman says. “It’s all about winning. In the minors, it’s about development. In the majors, most people want to believe it’s all about winning, but there are a lot of guys who play for their individual accomplishments and the betterment of their families. In college, it is simply about the competition.”

Berkman spent the final two weeks of Rice’s fall program working with the team and planned to return for spring practice.

But in December, teams started calling. The Astros were interested in a reunion. The New York Yankees, Philadelphia and Tampa Bay were all curious about Berkman’s thoughts on playing. When the Rangers’ initial off-season plans fell through, they, too, joined the conversation.

The Astros were in no position to contend. New York, Philadelphia and Tampa Bay would have made it difficult for Berkman to see his wife, Cara, and four daughters between the ages of 3 and 11, regularly.

The Rangers were looking for a full-time DH, which would lower stress on Berkman’s knees. They were certainly a contender. They were close to home. They had a contract in hand. It all added up to some “pretty special circumstances.”

“It sounds like exactly what you are after,” Graham told Berkman. “It’s hard to get any better than that. He wanted so badly to coach in college and he still will. But I think he wanted my blessing to do this. I told him he had a lot of hits left in him.”

It was distinctly different from the last time the Rangers called.

Win one for Texas

Lance Berkman is as Texan as all-beef chili. He was born in Waco, grew up in New Braunfels, was educated and settled in Houston. He owns a ranch between Johnson City and Fredericksburg. He says his roots in Texas go back at least six generations on both his mother’s and father’s sides.

“Being from Texas is special,” he says. “It’s not something I take lightly. We have a culture that’s all our own. We are unique.”

One uniquely Texas trait: being straight-forward and honest, even if the truth sounds unpleasant.

That’s all Berkman said he was doing when he seemingly ripped the Rangers during a radio interview shortly after signing with St. Louis. Asked to compare the clubs, he responded that St. Louis had better pitching and that the Rangers’ staff was just slightly above average.

“When asked to compare the two teams, I gave what I figured to be an honest answer,” Berkman said. “I didn’t mean any disrespect.”

He figures he’ll approach Rangers pitchers in spring training to discuss — and apologize, if necessary.

It wasn’t the first time he’s made a comment so frank and so straight-forward it caused an issue. It also probably won’t be the last.

When the conversation turns back to his honest answer about playing in 2013, he reiterates the compensation may be enticing, but it is the competition that is rewarding.

And the idea of winning in Texas?

“The only thing better than to retire with having won a World Series would be to do it, having won one for the state of Texas,” Berkman said. “I do consider this the greatest state in the union, and it would feel more special to do something for your own people.”

Follow Evan Grant on Twitter at @Evan_P_Grant

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